Canada says it's well-prepared for new H1N1 flu wave

WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - Canada is well-prepared if a second wave of the H1N1 flu pandemic hits this fall, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq said on Tuesday, following criticism of the country's state of readiness by a leading medical journal.

"We are well-positioned, we are seen as world leaders responding to the pandemic," Aglukkaq told reporters after announcing funds to build new health-care facilities in remote aboriginal communities.

Canada, a country of 33.6 million people, plans to buy 50.4 million doses of pandemic vaccine and begin immunizations in November. Canada was the first country in the world to develop a pandemic plan and will now refine it before flu season begins this fall, said Dr. David Butler-Jones, the country's chief public health officer, who was answering questions with Aglukkaq.

The current plan will not be able to immunize in time vulnerable populations such as aboriginal people, young children and people with chronic medical conditions, the Canadian Medical Association Journal said in an editorial on Monday.

Australia and the United States are taking a faster approach to licensing vaccines without adjuvants for vulnerable groups, the journal said. An adjuvant is a substance added to the vaccine to improve the immune response so that less vaccine is needed.